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08/29/2010 - Motherwell, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A 73rd-minute penalty kick from Daryl Murphy was enough to lift Celtic to a 1-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park Stadium on Sunday.
Celtic was on top for the majority of the match, but it took until the 73rd minute for the Hoops to break the deadlock as Murphy fired home a penalty kick after Shaun Maloney was brought down inside the penalty area by Motherwell's Steven Saunders, who was sent off for the foul.
Neil Lennon's side was hoping to rebound from a crushing defeat at Utrecht in Europa League qualifying in midweek, and they nearly opened the scoring a few minutes into the game when Maloney had a close-range effort kept out by Motherwell goalkeeper Darren Randolph.
It wasn't until the second half that Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster needed to make a save, while Maloney continued to threaten the Motherwell net as he sent a shot just inches past the post.
The breakthrough finally arrived when a header from Daniel Majstorovic sent Maloney through on goal, only for the Celtic man to be brought down by Saunders as he entered the area.
Saunders received a red card for the challenge, and Murphy sent Randolph the wrong way from the spot.
Celtic then had little trouble in holding off the 10-man hosts while the lead was nearly extended with Patrick McCourt going close on a few occasions.
St Mirren picked up its first win of the season in 1-0 fashion over Hibernian as Craig Dargo scored the lone goal in the 58th minute, while Morgaro Gomis helped Dundee United salvage a 1-1 draw at Hearts as he scored in the 85th minute.
<< Bengals release WR Bryant
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals released wide
receiver Antonio Bryant on Sunday.
Bryant signed a reported four-year, $28 million contract in March, but the
team has since added Terrell Owens to serve as t
<< Royals place P Texeira on DL
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kansas City Royals have placed reliever
Kanekoa Texeira on the 15-day disabled list with a right elbow strain.
The move is retroactive to Saturday.
Texeira is 1-0 with a 4.64 earned run average in 27
<< Ten-man Bolton battles back to earn draw
Bolton, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Goals from Kevin Davies and Robbie Blake in
the final 20 minutes helped 10-man Bolton come back from two goals down to
earn a 2-2 draw with Birmingham at the Reebok Stadium on Sunday.
Birmingham's Roge
<< Suarez bags hat trick as Ajax pounds De Graafschap
Doetinchem, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A hat trick from Luis Suarez put
Ajax well on its way to a 5-0 thumping of De Graafschap at De Vijverberg on
Sunday.
Suarez scored twice in the first half and again in the 85th minute, betw
Indians pitching legend Feller battling leukemia >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Indians Hall of Fame pitcher Bob
Feller is battling leukemia at the age of 91.
Feller was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia less than two weeks ago and
spent two days at the Cleveland
Edoardo Molinari wins again; picked for Ryder Cup >>
Perthshire, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hoping to join his brother Francesco
on the European Ryder Cup team, Edoardo Molinari put together a stunning
finish to win the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.
Edoardo fell two stro
Florida SS Ramirez exits game vs. Braves >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez was
pulled from Sunday's game against the Atlanta Braves with apparent light-
headedness.
Ramirez slid into second on a play in the third inning, and the t
Jets LB Pace has broken foot, could be out six weeks >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Jets linebacker Calvin Pace
has a broken foot which will cause him to miss the team's September 13 season
opener against Baltimore.
According to the Jets official Twitter page, Pace wi
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and online football betting thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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